What's hot and what's not in New Zealand

To summarise my time in New Zealand, I thought I would summarise my top ten highlights. As I couldn't limit it to ten, I decided (in honour of the national sport and obsession here) to create a first 15 instead! My selections are totally personal, I hasten to add, and others may disagree...(especially the Kiwis amongst you). I've also included a few things I didn't like, in case the Kiwis amongst us start getting too smug!

1) Glowworms
I've seen these little critters all over NZ, and they never fail to enchant me, their beautiful lights creating a fairy grotto effect! The Spellbound tour in Waitomo was the best, as you got to see them up close, but I've seen great displays elsewhere too.

2) The helicopter ride over the glaciers
NZ has many opportunities to go exciting activities, what stood out here was that the excitement of my first helicopter ride was overshadowed by what I saw of the glaciers and mountains from the air, things which a non climber like myself would never get to see elsewhere.

3) The Waka boat trip in Abel Tasman
Not only was this a great way to see the beautiful coastline, and a fun paddle too, it was also a great introduction to Mauri culture, and came across far more powerfully than the 'dead' objects in museums or the rather false 'cultural shows'

4) Speights Ale Houses
Not only do they have their range of craft beers which are quite pleasant (and the best of the 'nationals' I've tasted), their food range majors on what I would consider traditional grub, e.g enormous plates of lamb's liver or shanks, with plenty of crunchy veg and mash, and all for a very reasonable price (esp as the portions are so big, even a big eater like me didn't need starters or deserts). Apart from the Chrischurch one, whose portions seem to be half the size!

5) Wai-O-Tapu, Rotorua
Quite simply, the most dramatic of the geothermal sites in Rotorua, with amazing smells and colours from the bubbling pools and silica terraces.

6) Kauri Forests
An amazing tree, the largest specimens in the Waipoua forest standing out for their age (up to 2000 years old) and enormous size. A humbling site, and we can be thankful that there are any Kauri trees left, whilst also mourning the millions that were cleared for a quick buck.

7) Te Puke
A quick stop off that covered two unexpectedly good attractions, the Kiwi Fruit farm, and the car museum. One of the joys of NZ is the amazing number of 50s, 60s and 70s British cars left, both in museums such as the one in Te Puke, and also on the road. Such cars as the Triumph 2000 and Ford Cortina are all over the place - when was the last time you saw one back in the UK?

8) Personal number plates
As long as it has 6 digits, you have a lot of freedom here, and you can put writing around it to explain further. Hence COKE01 on a coca-cola truck, HIREME on a taxi IMABYR for a buyer, SHTYEH (how was that allowed!) and my favourite MACKEM, yes a Sunderland supporter! At least he'll have a promotion campaign to look forward to next season ;-)

9) Queen Charlotte Track
For the sense of satisfaction of completing it, for the grand views from the ridgeline, for the infrastructure enabling you to have a proper bed and meal and your bags delivered on (for a nominal cost) and for the joy of having a beer and meal in a lodge overlooking a bay, surrounded by wilderness, darkness and tranquility.

10) Milford and Doubtful Sounds
The beautiful and stunning scenery, made more spectacular by the hundreds of temporary waterfalls when there is rain (which is often!). The drive to Milford is great too, as long as you time it right to avoid the coaches and camper vans!

11) Short Walks
NZ has thousands of short walks, all very scenic, and all well signposted and described, so you know beforehand whether a darts playing sumo wrestler could manage it, or if it's the kind of walk that Sir Edmund Hillary would have found a bit steep... Favourites include Mount Victoria in Wellington for it's 360 degree (highly interesting) views and the forest parks in Rotorua and Hamner Springs, which are quite informative too.

12) NZ Tourist Offices
These are very informative and very helpful, and will always find you somewhere to stay for no fee, whether you are after motels, hostels or b&bs. Incidentally, public toilets are very good too, and they always have toilet paper!

13) Native birdlife
Despite the best efforts of the settlers, NZ has many amazing birds. Apart from the national symbol the Kiwi bird (a real biological oddity), highlights would include the Keas (mountain parrots) vandalising my car, the majestic Albatross soaring around, the Kakas (forest parrots) bred successfully at Mount Bruce wildlife reserve and released into the wild, the Wekas for being nosey, and finally the Fantails for being cute.

14) The Christchurch Antartic centre
A highly informative place, with several interesting films and exhibits and a slightly mad ride in the Hagglund all terrain vehicle. It is at the centre of a large Antartic exploration infrastructure in Christchurch - the Americans use Christchurch as their base, and you can see the unique ski fitted C130 Hercules at the end of the runway (incidentally I already knew about these, as one of the people I met on the Doubtful Sound cruise was an ex US Navy guy who used to be a Navigator on the C130s flying into Antartica, and had lived in Christchurch for many years)

15) And finally....
New Zealand itself. The friendly, helpful people, the open roads (outside the cities) with beautiful scenery all around and hardly a soul about make travelling about this country a real pleasure. I've had occasional days where I've been on the road for 5 hours or more, but really enjoyed them, whereas the equivalent journey along the M6 or M5 would be a killer!

So...what about the things I didn't like....

The early closing hours in smaller towns - you have to eat early in many places or miss out!
The poor street lighting in small towns (back in the UK the Dail Mail would be running hysterical articles about muggers' paradises etc) though here the danger is tripping up or falling into the bushes! Conversely, the lack of light pollution means great night sky viewing.
Youngsters showing off their tarted up motors around town centres, in a manner reminiscent of provincial towns in the UK (and especially Dartford one way system)
The poor public transport and heavy reliance on the car. The number of drive in fast food restaurants is worrying, for example one motel I stayed in was right next to drive in McDonalds, Burger King and KFC! Towns and cities in NZ generally lack the attractiveness of the natural features...(Napier and Wellington being notable exceptions, and Christchurch to an extent)
Camper vans, especially on the South Island. I know they're driven by foreigners (mainly British) but I can still moan when they clog up the road!
The poor tv, though the large number of British Imports means that you can catch up on the programmes you never saw first time around! The news here is quite lightweight, and relies heavily on bought in foreign coverage from the UK and US.

And above all, the constant, excessive overuse of the word AWESOME. 'That's awesome", awesome view, awesome game, awesome ride, "Awesome", awesome day, awesome excitement, awesome food, awesome time, "it's been awesome to have you with us"...even when I've pointed it out to people, they've laughed in agreement and replied without irony "awesome mate!". They can't help it, it's complusive here. In an attempt to bring some new words to the kiwi vocabulary, the thesarus link below gives a number of alternative words to use. PLEASE!!!

http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=awesome

Overall though, I've had a wonderful time here. Many thanks to all the people who've helped make my time in NZ such a pleasure, the people who've showed me around, put me up and put up with me. But it's time to move on. As the nice girl in the bikini in the 'shocking' Aussie tourism advert goes "So where the bloody hell are you?"

How could I resist such an invitation?